Girls basketball: Taylor Rooks leads Gill St. Bernard's past Rumson

Gill St. Bernard's relies on its strong group of starters to make an impact on the game.

Of that group, none stands out more than Taylor Rooks. The senior guard showcased her ability to hit the 3-pointer, create space in the lane, pull down rebounds and play shut-down defense when she led Gill St. Bernard's past Rumson, 65-48, in round-robin play at the Mount St. Dominic Holiday Tournament yesterday in Caldwell.

"Taylor is a huge game changer," Gill St. Bernard's coach Josuf Dema said. "We have had four games so far and every game has been a little bit different. Some games other people had to step up, one game she scored 30 points. We knew that this was going to be a game where we needed her to step up."

Rooks took that responsibility seriously and led the field with 29 points and 11 rebounds, while senior point guard Jasmine Sina added 18 points for Gill St. Bernard's.

In an attempt to shut down Rooks, Rumson played a low zone to clog the paint. Instead of forcing the ball inside, Gill St. Bernard's took advantage of looks from 3-point land and used quick passes to allow Rooks to get chances in close. Rumson switched to a man defense in the second half, but Gill St. Bernard's still got its chances behind the play of Sina, who hit four 3-pointers and grabbed five rebounds.

"We are a shooting team, so when they went to a zone, we just took advantage of our open shots," Sina said. "We have Taylor, who can go to the basket and drive. We have Trevena (Bennett), who can also attack the basket. Against any kind of defense we can attack it, so we try to use that to our advantage."

Gill St. Bernard's offense not only found holes in Rumson's defense with its passing, but used aggressive drives to the rim to draw fouls. Dema's squad out-shot Rumson, 12-6, from the free-throw line and earned nine trips to the charity stripe.

"I wasn't necessarily expecting to get as many trips (to the free throw line) as I did today," said Rooks, who scored eight points from the foul line. "I do try to get to rim and draw fouls. It definitely helped us pull away because when they got into foul trouble, it gave us the momentum. All the little things mean a lot in a game like this."

Rooks and the rest of Gill St. Bernard's did not just do the little things on offense, but on defense as well. Gill St. Bernard's used an assertive attack to slow down a Rumson offense that had a height advantage at every position. Despite the consistent pressure, Rumson's offense was able to capitalize on deep 2-pointers, as Hannah Scanlan scored 13 points and Grace Stant added 11.

"We knew coming into this game that we had to pressure them," Rooks said. "We not only pressured the guards, but we put pressure everywhere and it ended up working out."